The Healer
by ProcrastiMasta
Summary: 'For someone blessed with incredibly powerful eyes, he had no idea how he had been so blind...there had always been three.' - All she ever wanted was to be useful. Looks like she just got her wish. [AU post war]
1. Prelude

Prelude

' _Blood.'_

She laid there, barely able to focus on anything outside of her overloaded senses. Her thoughts kept jumping between words, over and over again like a mantra.

' _Ash.'_

She was dying.

' _Cherry blossoms.'_

Through the chaos of her frantic mind, that was the one thing she was sure about.

The world was falling apart around her, she knew that. But all she could think about was the blood oozing out of her crushed body. The taste of ash in her mouth.

All she could see was the cherry blossom petals floating to the ground like gentle rain.

It was beautiful.

' _Blood...Ash...Cherry blossoms.'_

Everything started to go black as her lids grew heavy…

'SAKURA!'

Her eyes snapped open once more, an intrinsic reflex more than anything else. She was well beyond conscious control now.

Whoever yelled her name must've been close, but she couldn't move. She couldn't turn to see.

Instead the horrors immediately surrounding her filled her vision. She wasn't able to shift her head, but the limited view granted to her as her eyes shot from one side to the other was more than enough.

Innocents covered in blood.

Shinobi turning into ash.

And through the cherry blossom petals she could see a blazing golden fox, shrouded in purple chakra armour up in the sky.

And in the moment of clarity that normally precedes death, she knew exactly what it was...or rather _who_ it was.

Her teammates. Her boys.

Suddenly a pure panic welled up within her, _'No no no no NO!'_

She couldn't die. All those people bleeding, she could heal them. All her friends turning to ash…she needed to fight, she needed to protect them.

She should've been up there with Naruto and Sasuke.

But in the grand scheme of things, she didn't matter. Shame filled her mind. Even at the end of it all, she was useless.

The clarity slowly began fading away and she knew her time was close. As her consciousness began to leave her, all that was left was a sad chant.

'Blood…USELESS…Ash…USELESS…Cherry blossoms…US—'

* * *

.

 **A/N: I wrote a prelude of sorts while I was procrastinating (studying for exams is BORING). I just figured that a story about Sakura should begin with her - don't worry though, I'm still working on Chapter 3. Thank you for all your patience 3**

 **As always I hope you enjoyed! Please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought ~**

 **.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is not a timetravel fic, although it may appear as such in this chapter.

Chapter 1

It had been a long day for Hagoromo.

Sort of.

Technically speaking, he didn't actually have ' _days_ ' - as an all powerful being who's spirit was tethered to this world, time was really more of an endless blur.

Still, he felt the expression was entirely fitting for how drained he felt as he watched the scene unfolding before him. It was one he had seen many, many times.

Literally.

When time was as fluid as it was for Hagoromo, it was only natural to want to go back and change things. In fact, going back and altering the past was something that he had recently been doing quite a lot of, each time hoping the ripples created from a small change would carry through to the present.

The world seemed to be cursed though. No matter what Hagoromo tried, no matter what he changed, it always came down to this final battle.

He was ashamed to admit that he had been lulled into a false sense of security after his mother, Kaguya, had been sealed away.

 _'This is it...'_ Hagoromo thought after the Infinite Tsukuyomi had been undone, _'...the final battle has been fought.'_

 _'We were successful.'_

As time passed he soon came to realise that this was certainly not the case.

That was not the final battle.

He returned his attention to the current war zone in front of him, noting the countless dead bodies haphazardly strewn around the vast clearing. Hagoromo shook his head. They never really stood a chance against the Invaders.

Only the two strongest of them all were still left standing, as it had been in nearly every single one of the previous versions that had played out so far.

It was the fourteenth time he had tried to change the outcome of this battle, and while this particular iteration seemed to be leading to a result equally as disheartening as the rest, he couldn't help but hold onto the small glimmer of hope that somehow... _somehow_...it would be different this time.

That glimmer of hope promptly faded as one of the Ōtsutsuki Invaders, members of Kaguya's own clan, sent five All-Killing Ash Bones flying in Sasuke's direction.

Half blind, the man himself was so consumed with another Ōtsutsuki opponent that he was completely unaware of the lethal projections headed straight at him.

By the time he realised, it would be too late. Hagoromo closed his eyes knowing full well how anything those bones touched would turn to ash. He didn't really want to see what came next.

"Sasuke!"

The desperate cry came from a small distance away, forcing Hagoromo's eyes open in surprise. Shrouded in swirling, golden-orange chakra, Naruto moved towards his friend at an incredible speed, the characteristic fangs of his tailed beast mode bared in exertion.

Alerted by the call, Sasuke turned in time to witness the blonde launching himself at the Ash Bones, each making a sickening crunch as they pierced his body. Momentum continued to carry him further back, the cloak of chakra diminishing into nothing as he sailed through the air, eventually landing on his feet with a heavy thump.

For a few moments everything stood still as they all paused to process what had just happened, Naruto himself included, until finally his legs gave out.

Sasuke, recovering quickly from his shock, swiftly reached out and grabbed his falling friend. The intense despair that filled him replenished his strength, and chakra born of pure emotion surged through him as he enclosed them both within the protective cover of the Susano'o he couldn't produce a few minutes ago.

He kneeled, gently setting his former rival down, and then watched in horror as blue eyed man slowly turned to ash.

Naruto smiled weakly.

"S-Sorry teme…looks like it's all up to you now."

A strangled cough escaped his lips, the blood dripping down the sides of his mouth garishly bright against his greying skin. He wanted to say so much more, but when he tried to speak again he found that his voice was lost and his mouth wouldn't move and his lungs were dust.

And soon his mouth was dust too.

And then his eyes.

And for a brief moment, Naruto knew no other sensation but unbearable pain in the silent darkness.

And then, blissfully, even that was gone.

An anguished cry ripped its way free from Sasuke's throat as Naruto's body disintegrated. He was the only one left now.

It was in this moment that Hagoromo decided he had seen enough, and promptly pulled himself back into time-space limbo.

* * *

He was no longer here nor there, nor then nor now, but rather everywhere and nowhere at once. Here, in this place, the battle he had just witnessed had both happened and also not yet happened, and could potentially never happen or happen in a different way.

Don't worry, it was confusing the first time he came here too.

Long story short: Time was a fickle bitch. When it came to the future she really liked to keep her options open.

And it was for this precise reason that Hagoromo knew the world could be saved. The future wasn't set in stone, and if he could just figure out what exactly needed to be changed in the past, then everything would be ok and the world wouldn't end.

Thus, for the fifteenth time, Hagoromo began to plan his newest intervention in history.

" _Think_ you old goat turd…what are you missing?" He mused out loud, reflecting on the previous versions of what he'd just seen.

The very first time the attack had happened it had taken everyone by surprise.

They had all assumed that a new era of peace had finally come upon them after defeating Madara and Kaguya, and after nearly coming to a complete halt the world and it's inhabitants began to focus on putting the war behind them.

And for the most part, they succeeded. Little by little, everyone started to relax, easing into peacetime as if the devastation of only a few years ago was just a bad dream.

Perhaps that was why the very first attack was the most devastating of all the versions Hagoromo had witnessed.

No one saw it coming.

It had been an extremely normal night in Konoha, the streets bustling with people enjoying the cherry blossoms in full bloom and vendors selling their goods in the cool spring air.

That was until the sky was torn apart by violent purple lightning and streams of fire as two beings descended rapidly towards the ground, landing just outside the village — their impact so strong it shook buildings and shattered windows, the streets dusted with pale pink petals falling off branches like snow.

There was a sense of eerie beauty in the sudden destruction, enhanced by the still quiet that followed it.

As the two Invaders from the sky flew up from where they landed to hover above, there was a heavy pause, the villagers watching in horror as they tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

Then, without a single word, all hell broke loose as they began attacking anything and everything in sight.

In Hagoromo's personal opinion, their entrance was way over the top. Really? Lightning and fire from the sky?

That was _so_ two millennia ago.

 _'Tsk…the Ōtsutsuki are all the same. Mother's arrival on this planet was no less flashy,'_ he thought, knowing immediately who the attackers were without a need for their introduction.

If their etherial features and unique hue weren't confirmation enough, their impressive Dōjutsu certainly was. One of them even bore a familial resemblance to Kaguya so strong that Hagoromo absently wondered if he was looking at his own uncle.

With the thought of his mother, the Sage of Six Paths frowned. At least when she had arrived, she didn't destroy everything she laid eyes on. If these two were indeed after the chakra fruit of the Divine Tree, and being his mother's kin he was sure that they were, then they wouldn't really get too far by killing everyone.

Very quickly however, an incredibly familiar scene began taking place before Hagoromo's very eyes. The branches of the Divine Tree sprung up from the depths of the earth, encasing anyone that possessed even a sliver of chakra within them.

Everything was happening too fast.

By the time the officials of Konoha had even grasped what was going on most of the chakra-less civilians were dead and more than half the shinobi were trapped within the vines of tree, their chakra being sucked out of them.

A few unlucky ones, usually those that put up more resistance, were disintegrated into ash by the clan's special bones — their chakra, freed from the physical constraint of a body, reabsorbed through the earth and into the tree that way.

Hagoromo grimly watched as Naruto and the other remaining nin fought the Invaders, a valiant attempt for sure, but futile nonetheless. The golden boy was only one half of a whole and with Sasuke miles away, still undertaking his journey of atonement, the counterattacks weren't quite as strong.

It was hard enough with just one ridiculously overpowered Ōtsutsuki…but two? They never really stood a chance.

Things weren't fairing too well in any of the other countries either from what he could tell, the reach of the God Tree circumambulating the entire world as its branches destroyed everything in search of stolen chakra.

Hagoromo stuck around until Naruto himself was turned into ash before he stopped watching.

The world had effectively ended.

Not wanting to see the victorious Invaders reap the rewards of the tree's fruit, growing large and heavy with the massive sudden influx of chakra, he had pulled himself back into time-space limbo.

And then immediately got to work.

The Sage of Six Paths was no idiot, he knew that the answer lay in the past. Somewhere along the way, there had to be a key point in time, a moment or an event that could be changed which would lead to a different outcome. And so he began formulating different theories, changing different things each time to see what would happen.

Whilst he was prohibited by the laws of Time to directly inform someone about the details of the future, he _was_ allowed to show them snippets of what he had seen, and he decided to use that to his full advantage. Initially, Hagoromo had believed that the fault came from the separation of Naruto and Sasuke, and he was sure that if they worked together, they could prevent this less than savoury outcome. Just as they had with Kaguya.

So he went back a few months, confident that this time he would see those alien weirdos going down. After showing Sasuke what he had seen, the boy had immediately returned to Konoha, just as he had hoped.

The outcome was still the same.

Even working together, the two reincarnations of his children could not defeat the Invaders, and it was back to the drawing board for Hagoromo. His thirteen subsequent attempts at meddling with time yielded varying results.

The tenth attempt was probably the worst.

He had decided, on a whim, to see what the outcome of saving the lives Naruto's parents would be…

 _'I'm glad to see you're doing so well Kushina! I see your son inherited Minato's beautiful blue eyes.'_

 _'Yeah, they really do look alike huh?'_

 _'Have you decided on a name?'_

 _'We have! Mikoto…meet Menma! He's g—'_

 _*Hagoromo has exited this time-space*_

…and very quickly realised that it wasn't the right move.

*shudder* _Menma_.

Aside from that one, most of his attempts almost always ended the same way. No matter how hard he tried to steer the future in a different direction it always came looping back.

Something was missing.

He needed to think outside the box.

Sasuke and Naruto were the key, that much he was certain of. If they could overcome his mother then they were the only ones with a chance at beating the Invaders. Hagoromo thought back to their fight with Kaguya.

What had changed the direction of the battle in their favour? Certainly their teamwork played a huge part. Informing them of their link to his own sons Indra and Asura, and splitting his power between them had been a pivotal point too.

At that, a small lightbulb pinged in the back of his mind.

Hagoromo was sure that he had to change something from Naruto's time. Changing something too far in the past would create a future immensely different — *shudder* _Menma_ — from the path it was supposed to take. However, Naruto and Sasuke were direct reincarnations of his sons, and perhaps the answer on what to do lay with them, during his own time alive on this planet.

It was a bit of a stretch, but he was currently at such a loss on what to do that he was willing to try anything out. Backtracking along the continuum of time, he plunged himself into the years following Indra's birth. He may as well start from the start.

As all the notable occurrences of their childhood played out before him, one particular event caught his attention, drawing out genuine laughter from deep within his belly.

It was a small thing, something he had forgotten entirely until now. When Indra was eleven he had walked in on Hagoromo…er…partaking in a certain physical activity with a woman.

They were both completely naked.

There was a lot of thrusting.

The look on innocent Indra's face still bought tears of laughter to his eyes.

For a quick moment he wondered about what happened to Karai, the woman who he…ah…partook in physical activities with.

His wife's death immediately after Asura's birth had left him lonely once the grief dulled, and years after her passing he and Karai eventually became lovers. He had always shared a strong connection with her as one of his earliest disciples, a feeling enhanced by Ninshū, but it had only ever just been friendly up until then.

She shared his bed for only a few short months however, disappearing one night without a word, and over the many years that followed he forgot her.

Overcome with nostalgia, Hagoromo decided to take a slight break in his search for a solution, manipulating time-space to watch Karai the night she left. He looked on as she met up with another woman, one he'd never seen before, under the dim light of the crescent moon.

They were speaking so quietly he almost had to read their lips to fully grasp what they were saying.

"This is a big step Karai, do you really plan on not coming back?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you do not wish to tell him?"

Karai remained silent for a few minutes, her face a reflection of the apparent turmoil within her. At long last, she let out a resigned sigh.

"No…Hagoromo must never know."

His eyes widened at the mention of his name. Intrigued, Hagoromo moved even closer to try and pick up all the snippets of their hushed conversation.

The other woman rested her hand on his lover's shoulder and squeezed as she spoke. A comforting gesture.

"Do you know what it is?"

With this, Karai's troubled expression softened. Smiling gently she wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach.

"A girl."

Hagoromo froze.

His brain sluggishly tried to process what he already knew. In a moment of panic he flung himself back into time-space limbo, not even noticing as the scene dissolved away while his mind tried to play catch up.

He stood in silence for a few minutes.

Then, to no one in particular, he finally said it.

"I have a daughter."

* * *

Her name was Aira.

Indra, Asura and Aira.

Even her name fit the bill.

His initial shock had quickly turned into fury that Karai had kept his own child a secret from him for all those years, but that anger slowly ebbed.

With all the politics and drama surrounding the inheritance of Ninshū, he supposed he could understand why she wanted to keep their child away.

Entering the past again, he skimmed quickly through Aira's youth, not wanting to get attached. The anger at being denied the chance to know his own daughter would return if he did, and he had to be practical. The world was at stake.

He did not know this child.

He would leave it at that.

At some point in her teens, Aira had returned to his village to pursue Ninshū, her natural gift for it both unsurprising and uncontainable considering her lineage. Hagoromo was taken aback at that, and he quickly skimmed his memory to see if had any recollection of the girl.

He didn't.

Shame began to fill his mind, even though he knew it was unjustified, at the realisation that he had been only a few meters away from his own child all that time and he didn't even notice.

At least she lived a full life, that girl, and for that he was happy. At least she wasn't tainted by the endless war between her brothers. At least she never knew true sorrow.

He told himself what he needed to in order to feel better, repeating the words like a mantra.

It was hard, but he eventually managed to push aside the whirlwind of emotions he felt and tried to figure out how she tied into everything. No matter which angle he looked at he couldn't really see how she fit into the grand scheme of things, and the events of her life didn't really offer him any clues on what he had to do to remedy the future.

Perhaps he was just letting the shock of this discovery get the better of him. New information wasn't necessarily important information, no matter how unexpected it may be.

Sighing he refocussed his attention back on his sons. After all they _were_ tied to Naruto and Sasuke's very being. The answer lay with them, he was sure of it.

His mind wandered to the night Indra made the vow to be born again and again until Ninshū was no more. At the time he couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he was even more shocked when Asura decided to follow in suit, vowing to defend it for however many lifetimes it took for Indra to make peace.

Simply speaking of reincarnating one's essence was one thing but actually going through with it was another, and he had taken solace in the hope that neither of his sons were fool enough to truly do it. As usual though, his hope was misplaced. Following his passing, Hagoromo watched, unseen as a spirit and unable to do anything, as Indra, and shortly after Asura, committed their souls to the cycle of rebirth in a complex ritual.

Hagoromo suddenly took in a sharp breath, wrenched out of his own memories. Realisation had just hit him as hard as a ton of rocks.

'The ritual!' He exclaimed out loud.

It had involved the shedding of one's own blood, in a contract of sorts that tied them to the fabric of time. That same blood, that very same Ōtsutsuki blood with all its unknown and mystical properties, ran through their sister's veins.

Could it be...?

For someone blessed with incredibly powerful eyes, Hagoromo had no idea how he had been so blind.

There was always three.

There had _always_ been three.

His excitement was building.

Over and over again.

Always three.

Throughout the generations.

He never noticed, so focussed on balancing the two halves he believed each of his sons represented to realise that there was never just two halves to begin with. He had found the missing piece, and everything was coming together in his mind.

If his sons were trapped in a cycle of reincarnation…

…then who's to say his daughter wasn't either?

* * *

.

 **A/N:** Let me know what you think! :)

.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In all honesty, Hagoromo had never really paid much attention to her.

The first time he recalled even noticing her was in the battle against his mother. He had been briefly amused at how her name matched her light pink hair, but beyond that she was simply Naruto and Sasuke's other teammate.

During the fight itself he had been surprised by her perseverance, and he remembered smirking slightly when she punched Kaguya from above as the two boys tried to seal her. Not many people can say they've bonked a goddess on the head.

Lord knows she deserved it though.

However the war and the events leading to Kaguya's defeat were almost always the same in every version, regardless of what he changed, and having not really focussed on it for a few repetitions Hagoromo had almost entirely forgot about Sakura.

Until now.

Rebirth worked in strange ways.

The way Hagoromo understood it, reincarnation was almost like an organ transplant. His son's spirits would only reemerge in the body of someone who's own intrinsic spirit was already a close match, allowing the two to co-exist peacefully.

He initally assumed that there needed to be a blood connection in order for a spirit to reemerge in another body, relatives at the very least if not immediate family, but over the years he realised that this wasn't always the case. The strength of the link depended entirely on this basic compatibility.

More often than not however, direct blood relations tended to naturally be more alike, and thus the spirits of his sons were often tethered more tightly when they were reborn into members of their own family tree than to those who weren't related.

Hagoromo himself had witnessed lesser reincarnations throughout the generations, weaker links to his sons, and although some more were notable than others they were never quite the same. But ever so often a direct link would be born, like Hashirama and Madara or Naruto and Sasuke, connections so strong Hagoromo felt as if he were looking at his own boys all over again.

And for every reincarnation of his sons, no matter how strong their link was, there was always one of his daughter too. Now that he knew about it, it truly was incredibly obvious.

For every pair of warriors that came about, there was always a healer.

Hashirama and Madara had Mito Uzumaki.

While her fuinjutsu was undoubtably what became her identifier, few people realised just what a prodigious healer Mito was. In fact one of the first seals she had ever made was the contract between her and Katsuyu, the very same one that had been passed down to her granddaughter Tsunade.

It was her that set up the basis of the medical system in Konoha and the Oath of the Medical Ninjas, her Byakugou proudly displayed on her forehead. It was the mark of one transcending beyond that of just regular healing.

She was not the first one to wear it of course. Aira was the creator of the Byakugou, it was her legacy, and when she crushed mountains and splintered trees all those who saw the tiny diamond on her head would know it was her.

Again Hagoromo felt a hot burn of shame at his negligence, at his failure to notice his own daughter's remarkable talents.

Just as he had before though, he tried to push aside the feeling with cold hard logic.

Ninjutsu had just begun back when he was alive, and every single day it seemed like something new and amazing was being discovered as his disciples found out different ways to use their chakra.

It was natural that Aira's talents went unobserved by him…right?

No matter how he tried to reason it, he had to admit his lack of interest or focus on medical ninjutsu may have also been part of the reason why.

Perhaps the Ōtsusuki in him meant that he only revelled in showy justsu and all things that go BANG, but for some reason the humble, and yet incredibly vital art of medial ninjutsu was something he completely overlooked.

But it made sense now that he had opened his eyes. It really did.

All this time he truly believed he was evenly splitting his powers between Naruto and Sasuke.

He wasn't.

This earth is all about balance, and perhaps the reason it inevitably ended each time no matter what he changed was because he had never managed to balance the power that he possessed, the power of this world and nature itself that he had inherited from his mother, properly.

The recurring embodiments of his children made it blatantly clear where the lines needed to be drawn.

Indra had power. He was gifted, the fighter no one who could oppose and this made him the warrior.

Asura had love. He understood people, connected with them in a way his brother couldn't and this made him strong. He was the leader.

And Aira, the part of the puzzle he had overlooked, was always there, easing the pain of others with her hands as she soothed their wounds. She was the healer.

When he had passed on his power to Naruto all these previous times, he had passed on far too much.

The power to heal, to regrow organs and limbs, to restore the life force of a person with just a mere touch. This was never his power to have, just as it was never Asura's.

This power was meant for Aira.

This power was meant for Sakura.

That much at least was incredibly obvious.

If Naruto and Sasuke were the reincarnations of his sons, then there really was no other option but Sakura. She was his daughter in more ways than just healing and strength.

Her fiery personality, the same caliber that he noticed Aira had from his limited viewing of the her past, likened the pink haired girl to her in a similar level of compatibility as Naruto and Sasuke did to their counterparts.

Aira and her lineage had faded away into the background, but Hagoromo was almost certain now that Sakura was a distant relative at the very least.

The earth really was all about balance.

Hagoromo had never really realised just how much until now.

* * *

Finally grateful that he had a sense of direction after all this time, he busied himself with finding out more about Sakura. He wanted to understand the girl, to know who she was as a person before he made any concrete plans.

Excitedly diving back into the past to the time when she was a genin, he began to watch her story unravel…

...only to find an insecure and weak girl, nothing like the strong woman he'd witnessed during the war.

Needless to say, Hagoromo was shocked.

He delved further back into her childhood in desperation to find some indication of the kunoichi she would become, peeling back the years until she was just tiny 8-year-old asleep in her bed.

He stopped there in her room, the growing worry that perhaps he wasn't on the right track yet again beginning to gnaw at the corners of his mind as he watched over her unseen.

"Is this really the same girl that fought against Kaguya?" he muttered out loud, feeling sure he had made some sort of mistake.

"Who's Kaguya?"

"Eeeep!"

The voice had seemingly come out of no where, shocking him. Pretending the high-pitched, undignified squawk that came out of his mouth never happened, the Sage of Six Paths spun around towards the direction of the noise and saw…nothing?

"Hello?" Hagoromo called out.

For a tense second he held his breath, and when there was no immediate response he shook his head. Of course there wouldn't be anyone else here.

In his current state he was a figment of time itself, temporarily tethered to reality by Sakura's life force, through which he viewed the events of her life.

For lack of a better word he was technically a ghost — an invisible ghost that no one should be able to see…or hear.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

"Now is not the time to be losing your marbles, get it together Hagoromo."

"Is that your name Pointy-san?" the voice called back, this time closer.

"EEEEP!"

The small giggle that followed seemed to come from the base of Hagoromo's robes, and quickly regaining his composure following his (louder and definitely more undignified) outburst, he looked down to find a peculiar little shadow-figure, it's head coming up to about the height of his knees.

"Pointy-san?" he enquired, and without a word it pointed at his horns as if it were obvious why he should be called so.

Upon closer inspection it was clear the small figure was a little girl — if her clear, high voice wasn't indicative enough, her uncanny resemblance to the young Sakura sound asleep on the bed certainly was.

However she looked odd, almost like a shadow come to life. She was completely black, with only her basic features outlined in white as if she were sketched on black paper with white ink.

Eerily reminded of Black Zetsu, Hagoromo apprehended the small girl warily.

"Who are you, little one?" he asked.

The girl paused, thinking.

"I guess I'm Sakura too, but only she sees me."

Hagoromo blinked. After years of no real contact — bar some brief, mystical interactions with Naruto and Sasuke — this whole situation was quite absurd to him.

"So…I supposed you're like…an Inner Sakura then?"

"I guess," she shrugged. A beat later her eyes widened.

"Hey, wait a minute! You can see me too Pointy-san…why is that? No one else ever sees me."

He knelt down to her level. It was clear she wasn't any sort of threat, although if he was being honest, he still wasn't sure himself why they were able to interact, and this bothered him.

"I could ask you the same thing, little one," he said.

"I don't know Pointy-san, even Sakura only sees sometimes," she replied sounding sad. "It normally happens when she gets really mad or really excited, but whenever that happens I'm really mad or really excited too cause I see everything she does."

She sighed. "I think she thinks I'm just her thoughts…it's kinda lonely."

"Lonely huh? Kid, you have no idea," Hagoromo huffed, "I've been alone for longer than you can imagine."

Inner Sakura paused at that, her brow furrowing as she tried to think something through. A moment later she beamed up at him with toothy black and white grin.

"Alright old man, how about you and I be friends then?"

At that Hagoromo chuckled, reaching out to ruffle her hair. Despite himself he found her to be quite endearing, a feeling he figured stemmed from the fact that he knew better than anyone what it felt like to see all, and yet be unseen by all.

Still, he had a job to do, and indulging a child's wants would have to come later.

"I wish I could spend more time with you little one, but I'm very busy right now."

"Busy with what?" she pouted.

"Well…the fate of the world rests in my hands and I'm finally on the right track to save it. In fact, Sakura might be a big part of it all."

"Really?" Inner Sakura exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

"Oh yes...you see, a very powerful goddess almost destroys the world in the future and Sakura helps defeat her. She'll grow up to be a great kunoichi, one with unimaginable strength," Hagromo said, as he looked at the tiny human asleep on the bed.

"But that's not why she's important," he continued, "To be able to heal is a gift and she has been blessed with it, something I overlooked for far too long."

"Another battle will take place not long after the first one, a fight that truly does bring the end the world, against not one, but two god-like beings. But I believe Sakura and her teammates are the k—"

Wait.

Wait a minute.

Hagoromo was talking about the future. Freely.

The laws of Time stated that, for all intents and purposes, it would be physically impossible for him to speak of events that were yet to come to a human. Sure, he could show them brief flashes of what he'd seen, or warn them that some sort of harm was coming their way.

But to speak to explicitly of the events that had taken place years from now should've been…

...impossible.

"Are you ok Pointy-san? Why'd you stop your story?" Inner Sakura asked, her head cocked to one side inquisitively.

Hagoromo looked down at the tiny black and white figure, still smaller than him even as he knelt.

He had first assumed that she was nothing more than a washed out manifestation of Sakura's subconscious. He'd seen constructs similar to this before in shinobi who had high levels of mental protection against genjustu.

Upon further consideration though, he realised this couldn't be the case.

Sakura was only 8 in the time Hagoromo was currently in. From what he had gathered she didn't even know what genjustsu was, let alone be capable of developing mental barriers against it.

On top of that of course, was the fact that she could see him, and also apparently defy Time's strict laws. Only other spirits should be capable of such things, and as far as he was aware, Sakura wasn't dead.

As Hagoromo struggled to make sense of the whole situation however, he just as quickly realised it didn't matter.

This was an opportunity.

An opportunity he hadn't had in any of his other iterations.

While Hagoromo could go back and intervene at certain points in time, there was no telling how the repercussions of doing so might pan out. Most things ended up out of his control purely because his capacity for interaction with the living was so restricted.

However, Inner Sakura could prove to be a link between him and reality.

Perhaps she could be a conduit through which he could actively influence how everything unfolded this time around…

Feeling optimistic all over again, Hagoromo smiled.

"Nothing's wrong kid, I just made up my mind about something."

"Made up your mind about what?"

"I've decided that I'll be your friend…but only if you help me with something in return."

"Helpyouwithwhat?" The response came, expelled entirely within one rushed breath at the prospect of no longer being alone.

"How would you like to to help me save the world?"

At this, she seemed uncertain. "...Me?"

"You have a very important part to play little one, something only you in the whole universe can do."

Inner Sakura's face lit up.

"Ok Pointy-san, I'll do it! I'll help!"

If Hagormo was being honest, he did feel a little guilty bribing a lonely 8-year-old with friendship…but he also wasn't above being immoral for the sake of the greater good.

He reached down and ruffled her hair.

"Very well then…let's get to work".

This time around would be the last time. He could feel it in his bones.

* * *

.

 **A/N:** I apologise for any grammatical errors or awkward sounding sentences. This chapter lacks flow and ends abruptly because it's unfinished, and I haven't touched it since I first drafted it up 2 years ago. What began as writer's block for a day progressed to a week, and then a month, and before I knew it I'd completely forgotten about this story.

It had just been sitting there on my laptop until today, when I stumbled across it as I was deleting old documents to make space on my (very full) drive. Everything came back to me after I read it. The elaborate plan I had for the story, the motivation I had to write it back then...it was all quite nostalgic actually.

I decided to post this even in it's draft stage because it seemed like a shame to let the words I had already written to go waste, but to be completely honest I don't know if I'll continue this story or even refine this chapter. Do people want me to continue this? I genuinely am undecided.

Also I took some creative liberties with Mito Uzumaki's character. I have no idea if she really did do all of those things, but for the purposes of this story, let's just say she did ;)

Either way I hope you enjoyed it, any feedback is appreciated :)

.


End file.
